Getting Back on the Bike (A $200-Valued Prize Giveaway!)

This post involves a giveaway. A cool one. But as always, I want to be crystal clear: Prize and promotional images have been provided and I have been compensated by The Coca-Cola Company, but I (Katy Widrick) am responsible for all opinions and information provided in this post — they are provided by me and not The Coca-Cola Company. Opinions are 100% honest and not influenced by The Coca-Cola Company or representatives. To see my full disclosure policy, click here.

It’s been more than a year since I was on my beloved Sugar Shorts. Yes, I named my bike. When you spend several hours a week together, you need something to make the bonding process easier, right?

(And I don’t mean literally bonding, although there used to be training rides so long and painful that I did feel stuck to the seat.)

I’d already started feeling the symptoms of bike burnout before I got pregnant, and since it is a bicycle built for two, I decided to put ol’ SS in storage while I grew a human. It was a nice break. We missed each other. And now it’s time to start getting to know one another again.

This week, I am pulling Sugar out and dusting her off. This weekend, I’ll be testing out the tires. And hopefully, this is the first step in my triathlon comeback. I’m nervous and excited and wondering if maybe I’m just a little bit nuts.

And you know how life has a funny way of kicking you in the butt? I’d just started thinking about Sugar when a representative for The Coca-Cola Company reached out to ask if I’d be willing to try the new Dasani Drops and — wait for it — give away a bike. And if I’m going to give you a chance to get back on the road, I need to do it myself, right?

you actually put the Drops into your water, so you can control how intense the flavor is

the bottle is designed to be small enough to take on the go

obviously, staying hydrated is an important part of a healthy lifestyle* (not only is it good for you, but you tend to crave water and hydration when you’re sweating)

GOOD

They taste really good! I was a little worried because of the artificial sweetener (see below under BAD) but I didn’t think the flavors were overly syrupy or “fake” tasting. For me, I found that less was better than more, or else my water tasted like a melted popsicle.

Zero calories meant that I wasn’t worried about overdoing it by drinking my calories.

Adding the drops to sparkly water was amazing!

I love the bottle’s small size (it fits in the zipper pocket of my cycling kit as well as the little bento box that I have on the bike)

BAD

The Drops have a less-than-stellar ingredient list, including artificial colors and sweeteners (Splenda). I used to be pretty militant about my labels, and I still try to avoid fake foods as much as possible. But I have backed off a bit (see “Life is Better With Mayonaise“) and let myself indulge in some treats like Diet Coke, flavored coffee creamer, etc. In the first weeks after having a baby, I needed near constant hydration (thank you, breastfeeding) and couldn’t choke down plain water all the time, so I added flavor drops and it helped a LOT.

The Drops tended to stain my plastic cups and straws a bit. A few runs through the dishwasher solved it, but the bright colors tended to linger.

The prize package includes coupons for Dasani Drops and Dasani Water as well as a Dasani-branded bike (winner to choose between a mountain bike and a beach cruiser).

RULES:

To enter, you MUST fill out the Rafflecopter widget below. You have several options to get more entries but you are required to leave a blog comment answering the question: if you win the bike, what nickname will you give it? The winner will be selected at random and will be notified by email. In the event that the winner does not meet requirements, a new winner will be selected. Prize and promotional images have been provided and blogger has been compensated by The Coca-Cola Company, but I (Katy Widrick) am responsible for all opinions and information provided in this post — they are provided by me and not The Coca-Cola Company. Opinions are 100% honest and not influenced by The Coca-Cola Company or representatives. Winner will be drawn after 11:59 p.m. ET. on March 15, 2013.

About Katy

Katy Widrick is a multimedia producer and online marketing consultant at MakeMediaOver.com. A NASM-certified personal trainer and AFAA-certified group exercise instructor, she writes about healthy living in a hectic world -- a balance between fitness and friendships, all built through social media. But her favorite job is mom to two beautiful girls.